We take a look back at some of the biggest gadget news from April and also check out some new technology developments. This month, we’ve had lots of smartphone news, a Wi-Fi onesie and a self-cleaning car.

This month…

The all-new smartphone market

This month, the smartphone market received an injection of fresh products and software, starting with the unveiling of Windows Phone 8.1. The new mobile operating system from Microsoft comes with a range of new features, including Cortana, a competitor for Apple’s Siri. The preview version of the new software was made publicly available on 14 April and Microsoft claims that over 1.5m devices had installed it within the first week.

On the hardware front, two new flagship devices from Samsung, HTC and Sony touched down this month. We unboxed the Samsung Galaxy S5 as soon as we got our hands on it for a quick look and comparison with the HTC One M8, and you can expect full reviews of both on the site soon.

But all of these top tech brands might just be blown out of the water when Chinese start-up OnePlus releases its ‘flagship killer’ smartphone. The €299 One smartphone could arrive as early as next month as the summer smartphone battle heats up.

Although, in the face of all this newness, we couldn’t help but feel a little bit nostalgic as we bid farewell to the Nokia name following the completion of its takeover by Microsoft. This is truly the end of an era for the Finnish phone-maker.

Game Boy turns 25

We couldn’t close a round-up of the month’s gadget happenings without wishing Nintendo’s Game Boy a happy 25th birthday. It has been a quarter of a century since this portable games console first burst onto the scene in Japan in April 1989, but it was July before it was available in the US and gamers in Europe were waiting on tenterhooks to get their hands on the device in September 1990.

Looking back at this US TV ad, the hype around a portable high-tech device seems almost quaint, not to mention describing Tetris as “outrageous” and a video-link cable as “revolutionary”. At the time, though, this was the coolest gaming gadget and we all wanted a piece.

Coming soon…

Self-cleaning car from Nissan

Motorists will rejoice at the news that Nissan is developing innovative paint technology that will keep cars from getting dirty. The Ultra-Ever Dry coating consists of super-hydrophobic and oleophopic paint that repels mud-splashes, dirt and grime and keeps the car spotless with no effort at all.

If that seems to good to be true, Nissan went to the trouble of painting half a Note with this magic coating to demonstrate the difference and, thus, many a prayer was answered.

Wi-Fi you can wear

Dongles be damned – the best way to get Wi-Fi on the move is by wearing it. At least, that’s the idea behind the BB.Suit by fashion designer Borre Akkersdijk. This Wi-Fi onesie is, essentially, a wearable hotspot thanks to synthetic fibre and copper wire stitched between layers of fine cotton thread. The embedded wires have been connected to chips to give the onesie Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS capability, and Akkersdijk demonstrated its prowess at SXSW this year by broadcasting his location from his clothing.

However, as the two prototype suits made thus far are still bulky and weighed down by batteries and processors in the pockets, Akkersdijk says it needs more work before it will be ready for mass consumption. Pity we won’t be able to get one in time for Electric Picnic.